Part
01
of one
Part
01
What people (age and gender) buy the most sleep related supplement products?
Introduction
Generally, older adults and women use the most prescription sleep related supplement products. For OTC sleep aids, there is no data for gender differences and age difference is irrelevant. However, older adults (65+) use OTC sleep aids for longer periods than younger adults. A longer breakdown of these demographics is included here.
Demographics of sleep related supplement product consumers
First it should be noted that the presence of sleep issues is widespread among adults and adolescents in the United States. The National Sleep Foundation's (NSF) Sleep in America Polls show that "87% of adults deal with sleep issues throughout their week and 60% have sleep issues every night/almost every other night." Additionally, over half of high-schoolers and over 40% of middle-schoolers report sleep issues. Companies that market sleep supplement products may not feel limited by age demographics because sleep issues affect Americans across all age groups. That being said, there are some differences in the age and gender of people who actually buy sleep related supplements.
Age
The CDC's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found that there was a significant association between age and prescription sleep aid use. This basically means as adults age, they are more likely to use sleep aids. About 7% of adults age 80 or over used prescription sleep aids compared to 1.8% of 20-39 year olds.
The sleep aid user by age group statistics show:
In a recent study from April 2017, about 18% adults in all age groups reported using an OTC sleep aid for insomnia/sleep difficulties. However, adults 18-64 were significantly less likely to have used an OTC sleep aid for more than 15 days than adults in the 65-74 and 75+ age categories. This difference is important when measuring not just who is using sleep related supplement products, but how they are using them. In this case, older adults are using OTC sleep aids for longer than their intended use. One interesting fact is that older people are actually less likely to report poor sleep, meaning we may change our perspective on what constitutes quality sleep as we age or sleep problems diminish as we age due to changes in lifestyle.
Gender
Information on gender differences in purchases of sleep related supplement products is less common, though the CDC's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey did find that women used prescription sleeping aids slightly more often than men. As far as OTC sleeping aid purchases, no data can confirm whether women are more common consumers than men. Mintel, a market intelligence agency, states that women are a target for potential growth for sleep aid companies. One source claims "women aged 45-54 and over 65 were the most likely to take a sleeping pill" however it lists both OTC and prescription sleeping aids, meaning we still do not know if women are more likely to be buying OTC sleeping aids than men. Zzzquil, a leading sleep aid, is now marketing to women ages 50-64.
OCCUPATIONS
A study on sleep-aids found that media and communication equipment workers were the top users of sleep-aids. It is estimated that nearly 15% of workers in the media and communication's industry take sleep-aids seven times or more per week. The study also found that nurses and mental health professionals were highly likely to take sleep-aids several times a week.
The percentage of workers by occupation that took sleep-aids 7 or more times in the week before the study are as follows:
Other information
Another of Mintel's groups that are a target for potential growth is non-white customers, but the CDC's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found that white adults were the most common users of sleep aids.
The most commonly used sleep related supplement products are melatonin (an herbal supplement), Tylenol, and Benadryl. Prescription sleep aids sales are actually declining because of fears of side effects, and consumers are demanding more natural remedies to cure sleep issues, like melatonin.
Conclusion
Research shows that generally, older adults and women are more likely to use prescription sleep aids. While differences in OTC use by age are almost non-existent, adults over 65 do use OTC sleep aids for longer than they are intended to be used. Women have been identified as a targeted market for OTC sleep aid companies, but no data shows yet that women use these at higher or lower rates than men.